Category: Blog

Today was really less exciting as yesterday, unless you call “lounging on the sun deck with a martini watching the wake of the ship all afternoon” exciting.

I still have no idea if I’m pulling any valuable GPS data. I’m recording whatever I’m getting, but there are still gaps in even that. There’s only ONE electrical outlet in the whole room, so twice now I’ve forgotten to plug my laptop back in after doing my hair and the battery has ended up dead for several hours. And once I came back to find that Dave’s GPS uploading app had frozen up…but in his defense, another GPS utility I’m using was acting strangely, too (a reboot fixed everything). I unfortunately just don’t have time to be constantly troubleshooting my setup. Important lounging to be done and all that.

Tonight was the Captain’s Party where everyone gets all dressed up. I bought a long wrap in one of the shops to go with my dress, but I quickly learned it is impossible to carry a camera and clutch and try to manage one of those things. I eventually figured out that it’s much easier for me to just throw the wrap over my shoulder instead of draped over my arms, but at least I was able to get it right for the photos.

 

After the Captain’s Party and dinner (lobster, and to be honest an uneventful lobster at that), we were headed back to our room to freshen up a bit when mom saw a club that she wanted to check out. I like to dance, but I really shouldn’t do it in heels (else I’ll screw up the nerves in my feet even more to the point where I’d need surgery one day). Well…a couple songs won’t hurt, I thought. So I danced a bit, but the numbness in my toes quickly put me in my place and I had to sit down. Mom didn’t want me to sit alone, so she sat down with me and we were just watching people party like they’re 1000 miles away from home.

Cute girl in a cocktail dress sitting in a club with her mom…Maybe I left myself ripe for the picking? The first boy who came up was actually trying to get both of us to dance, but my mom said I didn’t want to because my feet hurt. Which…was true, but dammit, I wish she wouldn’t have said that. But this insistent little fucker kept trying to get us up and completely ignoring my constant “I can’t, but thank you” until I finally made up an excuse of having a medical condition and I promised I really, really couldn’t. Dammit, I guess it’s not even really made up, but I wish I didn’t have to go that far to get him to quit pestering us. He was really nice about it, though. And apparently he didn’t let it phase him, because 5 minutes later he was all over some skinny blonde girl on the dance floor.

Anyway, a few minutes later one of his friends comes and has a go at actually trying to chat me up a bit. I had been taking a few pictures of people dancing, and he came and sat next to me and mentioned he had the exact same camera.

“Oh really? You have a D80?” I was rather bored, so he definitely had my attention.

“No, it’s a D70.”

Hmm, the previous model. That’s ok, I suppose…beggars can’t be choosers. Until he continued…

“Hey, did you know you have to format your camera?”

Wait, what? Blank stare.

“Yeah, you have to format it or the memory gets corrupted or something.”

I continued to stare at him with obvious incredulousness, wondering if he was trying to see how gullible I was and erase all my pictures to get me back for not dancing with his friend, or if he was just plain ignorant.

Crap, how should I respond?

“I think I’ve got a pretty good grasp on my camera.” Cue snotty grin. I’m apparently good at those, because he stammered for a second and bid me a good night. I threw a thank you back at him as he walked away.

I felt really out of place being in the club after that. I mean, I was bitchy to him, but I think I did a lot better than the other reply I was considering which was “you’re full of shit”. I was tired and ready to head back to our stateroom anyway, so I guess it was no big loss.

Tomorrow starts with an early breakfast in bed before exploring Cabo San Lucas. We tried to buy a shore excursion to see “Cabo by Land and Sea”, but it was sold out before we even had a chance to ask about it. We’ve pre-ordered room service so we don’t have to get around just to eat breakfast, and I guess after that we’ll be playing it by ear.

I really wish I could get out tonight with my tripod after most people have gone to bed so I can get some extended exposure shots of one of the restaurants and the atrium that I haven’t been able to get without camera shake, but mom’s griping at me to go to bed like she used to when I still lived at home.

[Ed. note: The next several entries I’ll be posting were actually from my cruise journal from last week.]

June 16, 2007 @ 10:26 PM
Ok, so…first night at sea. My initial impression is that all people do on cruises is eat and play bingo. None of the events scheduled really interest me, but laying on the deck with the cool ocean breeze is divine, so I’m ok with that. The evening shows were highly recommended by some of my co-workers, but considering that the last show for the day starts in four minutes and my mother and I are snuggly curled in bed, I’ll have to take Scott’s word for it for now.

Speaking of snuggly curled in bed (kindofish), my mother made it in this morning with plenty of time to spare, but she boldly decided to sleep in the terminal in Houston instead of getting a room. She hung out with another woman who was in a similar situation, and said woman coerced Continental to give her a stack of pillows and blankets, so I’d say that my mother lucked out considering the situation.

Tangent…this side of my blog is weird. I’m so unused to actually fleshing out thoughts instead of condensing them into 140 characters via twitter. I think I’m much better at the latter, but I’ll bravely forge through blogging about the rest of the day anyway.

The actual process of getting on the ship was uneventful, although quite different than I expected (based on movies and whatnot). There wasn’t a crowd of people bidding us bon voyage from the dock, and nobody on the boat was waving scarves and blowing kisses. (for the record, I think we were all trying to find the buffet). One think I did find interesting though is that there’s some crazy law that states everyone has to go through a life vest drill before the ship can disembark. This involves the pleasant British cruise director coming over the intercom (there’s an intercom in all rooms and public areas) and announcing that when the siren sounds, we’ve all gotta grab our life vests and gather in one of the 5 lounges to verify that we were all successfully able to grab our life vests. Life vests are itchy and make me quite claustrophobic and I hope I never have to use one (aside from the obvious reasons), but the photos I got of herds of people looking like they’ve been told to abandon ship almost makes up for the inconvenience.

So after all that got settled and we got back to the room, I pulled out my laptop and Dave’s GPS receiver and started working on getting my geotracking setup situated. I’m not able to get a GPS fix even though our room has a decently sized window, so I’m pretty disappointed. Dave’s uploader app says it was able to get a position though, so I’m going to trust it over the angrily blinking red light on the GPS device because it will help me sleep better at night. This whole geocasting plan kinda went to shit after I learned Internet access would cost .75/minute, so I’m honestly not surprised I’ve run into more problems. I’m hoping for the best, though.

Or when all else fails, you can always fudge the data. ^_^

After giving up on the GPS signal, we went to the main sundeck for a while. My mom’s just now past the point of being uncomfortable getting drunk around me, which is definitely interesting. Drunk Lisa’s mom giggles a lot and has an even worse sense of direction than usual (I swear she’d be lost on this damn boat without me), and also has a penchant for buying the $8.95 photographs that are constantly being taken of the guests. There’s a photographer for every 10 passengers, I swear.

Another tangent…my teeth grind more and in synchronization with my fingers when I type.

Nothing else has happened that I’ve found stupendously interesting. VERY relaxing, but “I laid out in the sun and had the best nap ever” doesn’t exactly make a great blog entry. I’m taking a TON of photos with the new Nikon D80 Dan got me. I’d really like to review them before tomorrow to make sure I’m not royally screwing something up, but the ship’s engines are so convincing at trying to lull me to sleep…

Last Monday morning I got in my car to drive to work same as any morning, only to discover that my car wouldn’t go in reverse. I could feel it catch, but it wouldn’t actually go anywhere. I called my regular shop and told them I would be towing it in. They called me the next day and said the transmission was shot and would have to be replaced, and quoted me $6000 to do it. Continue reading “$5000 crash course in BMW transmissions”

So I’m sitting here late at work, and I just got a phone call from Brittany. She’s a close friend I went to college with, but we don’t keep in touch like we should…so of course seeing her name flash across my screen gets my attention. Turns out that she was calling to inform me that John, another good friend of ours, passed away. He had been diagnosed with Leukemia over a year ago, and was waiting for a bone marrow transplant. He was back in the hospital, but Brittany informed me that one of our clanmembers was driving to go see him (which is a multi-hour trip). While he was on his way there, John called him and told him not to bother…his condition had worsened and he was no longer allowed to have visitors. By the time Chad got home, there was a message for him informing him that John had passed away.

At least that’s what I’ve been told so far. The details are still pretty sketchy.

John was actually the very first person I met at SAU. We were both enrolled in a pre-semester program called Leadership Academy, and he struck up a conversation with me while we were waiting in line at the signup table. Turns out we were in the same group, so we ended up getting a pretty good head start before the actual sessions started. We were inseparable during that week, and never much further apart the rest of the time I was at SAU. And although I didn’t know this until it was too late, he turned out to be the best friend of the guy I dated throughout most of my college years. Ha, and he still didn’t approve of my match! (Gene, if by some rare chance you decide to read this, I’m kidding)

The fondest memories I have of John are from “the cabin.” He and his father kept a little place so far east of Ashdown that we think at times we walked into Oklahoma. It was barely civilized enough to have electricity and may or may not have had running water. Wouldn’t have bothered us if there were neither, because we spent all our time outside next to the fire John kept going, and baths were verboten. Anyone who thought themselves too dirty was invited to take a swim in the creek that was a stone’s throw from the front door. Ah, the weeks we spent there! The most important daily objectives were cooking, followed very closely by drinking. John prided himself in his ability to stay roaringly drunk from the moment he got there until the moment he had to turn his key in the ignition to leave. I never could keep up with the drinking, but my cooking skills kept getting me invited back anyway. =]

John was one of the most countriest country boys I knew…which says a lot in southern Arkansas. For all the times I went with him to Mineral Springs to see his folks, I can’t recall if they kept a farm or not. But John could build anything you’d dream up, and even did side work as a contractor. Before he got sick, he was going to school for an Architecture degree. Farm or no, true southerners have a spirit to them that is simultaneously laid back almost to the point of non-concern, yet they have such an energy and pride about them that always makes the people around them feel taken care of. He’s one of the few people I’ve met in my life who I would say had a heart of gold.

I didn’t know John when he was sick, so these images of him are what I will keep with me forever. I did send him a letter shortly after he went in the hospital, but word got back to me that he didn’t remember who I was, so I didn’t follow up. I was startled at this but not surprised, as I had already moved to California and had been long out of touch. I can forgive such things for one who is struggling to live. I’ve never had anyone my age get seriously ill, so the situation was hard enough for me to deal with as it was. I haven’t decided yet if his failing memory was merciful or a curse that will eventually haunt me.

Rest in peace, John. You will not be forgotten.